NAME

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

Menu files add entries to the Debian menu system. The system
administrator can place menu files in /etc/menu/ to override menu files
that packages add to /usr/share/menu/ . The user can place menu files
in ~/.menu/ to override all other menu files.
Please read the Debian menu manual available in
/usr/share/doc/menu/html for the complete specification of menu files.
The menu files are usually named after the Debian package that contains
the programs listed in them. In it, you can list several "menu entries"
that specify a specific item in the menu structure. Each menu entry
specifies which packages it depends on; if that package are not
installed, the menu entry will be ignored by update-menus(1). (In a
menu entry you can specify pseudo-packages that start with "local.";
update-menus will always use those menu entries). If you wish to
remove an item from the menu entirely, make an empty menu file with the
same name as the file you want to override.

Examples

Dosemu could install the following menu file as /usr/share/menu/dosemu:
?package(dosemu):needs="text" section="Applications/Emulators"
title="Dosemu" command="dosemu"
?package(dosemu):needs="X11" section="Applications/Emulators"
title="Dosemu" command="xdos"
The system administrator wants to override this file to change how
dosemu is run, so /etc/menu/dosemu is created:
?package(dosemu):needs="text" section="Applications/Emulators"
title="Dosemu" command="dosemu -A"
?package(dosemu):needs="X11" section="Applications/Emulators"
title="Dosemu" command="xdos -A"
A user does not want Dosemu to appear in the menus at all, so the user
creates an empty file named ~/.menu/dosemu.

FORMAT

A menu file consists of 0 or more lines of the following format:
?package(package-name):var1=value1var2=value2 ...
needs Specify what kind of environment the program require.
This variable must be defined, and should be one of the
following:
needs="text"
Program requires a terminal
needs="x11"
Program requires a X server
needs="vc"
Program requires a Linux console (i.e.: svgalib
programs)
needs="wm"
The program is a window manager.
needs="fvwmmodule"
The program is a fvwm compatible module.
section
The section in which the menu entry should appear. See
MENULAYOUT for preferred section names.
icon An icon for this menu entry. If no icon is available,
just don’t define this.
title The title of the program that will appear on the menus.
Keep it short. If two menu entries share the same title
and section, the one that best fits the available display
will be used. So in the example above with two menu
entries that both have the menu id "title", if X is
available, the X11 one will be used; otherwise the text
one will be used. Must be defined.
command
The command to be executed when this menu entry is
selected.
hints A comma-separated list of hints on how grouping menu
entries; see the manual.

MENULAYOUT

The authoritative list of Debian’s menu structure is maintained in the
Debian Menu sub-policy document which is part of the Debian Policy
package. The menu structure below is included only for convenience.
Please do not put your packages into any other sections.
Use ‘/’ to separate sub-menu names, for example, "Applications/Editors"
or "Games/Arcade".
ApplicationsAccessibilityAmateurRadioDataManagementEditorsEducationEmulatorsFileManagementGraphicsMobileDevicesNetworkCommunicationFileTransferMonitoringWebBrowsingWebNewsOfficeProgrammingProjectManagementScienceAstronomyBiologyChemistryDataAnalysisElectronicsEngineeringGeoscienceMathematicsMedicinePhysicsSocialShellsSoundSystemAdministrationHardwareLanguageEnvironmentMonitoringPackageManagementSecurityTerminalEmulatorsTextTVandRadioViewersVideoWebDevelopmentGamesActionAdventureBlocksBoardCardPuzzlesSimulationStrategyToolsToysHelpScreenSavingLockingWindowManagersFVWMModulesWindowMaker

NOTES

If you want to specify an icon or hotkey for a sub-menu (for example,
the Editors sub-menu), just use the same syntax but leave the command
empty:
?package(mypackage):needs="X11" section="Applications" icon="icon.xpm"
hotkey="E" title="Editors"
Whenever any menu files are changed, you must run update-menus(1)